SanDisk Proposes Memory Card Albums

SanDisk [SNDK] is betting that you miss going into a store and buying music the old fashioned way. Well, not the "old-fashioned" way, exactly — but on memory cards instead of CDs. Memory cards packed with DRM-free music, and sold at Best Buy [BBY] and Wal-Mart [WMT]. The gamble is part of a new strategy the company hopes will allow them to keep up revenues and continue to stave off bids for purchase by Samsung [SEO:005930], who recently offered $5.8 billion USD for the company.

In an age of music downloads, subscription services and mobile phone music-buying, SanDisk's strategy to sell hard copies of music on a tangible medium seems almost antiquated. But the company has already secured cooperation from EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner Music to produce pre-loaded microSD cards. They will also be available for purchase online.

The new product will be called slotMusic, and the purported usage of 1GB cards suggests that more than just simple albums could be loaded on each purchase. While no one knows what else SNDK and its music partners will cram on the disks, options include music videos and interactive software.

For those without microSD-equipped devices, SanDisk will ship compact USB adaptors with every purchase of a media card.